Unthinkable: Does religion have a problem with women?

It can be difficult in today’s fraught political environment to critique Islamic teachings, or indeed any religious doctrine, in a calm and considered manner.

But we should not shy away from dialogue, says Dr Amanullah de Sondy, senior lecturer in contemporary Islam at UCC, whose book The Crisis of Islamic Masculinities tackles one of the most important religious questions of our time: does religion have a problem with women?

The Catholic Church is controlled by men. Buddhism and Hinduism are hardly exemplars of equality. As for his own faith, De Sondy, a Scottish Muslim of Pakistani descent, says “rigid notions of masculinity continue to cause a crisis in global Islamic communities”.

He examines the issue through influential Muslim thinkers, including the political Islamist Abul A’la Maududi, one of the founding fathers of Pakistan. “I decided to look at him particularly rather than a political Islamist from the Arab world, because part of my project was to try to ‘de-centre’ our view from the Arab Middle East,” he says. “If my aim is to challenge a singular version of masculinity, then it is also to challenge a singular version of Islam.”

Maududi advocated a very traditional view of family, and combined this with his vision for the newly independent state – not unlike Eamon de Valera’s romanticising of domestic life here, underpinned by a Catholic constitution.

“What we lose sight of is the fact that these are human endeavours,” says De Sondy. “Charismatic male figures like Maududi have throughout history done an excellent job of positioning themselves where to question them is like to question God.”

De Sondy argues that Muslims need to go back to the scriptural basics. The Koran should not be read as a “legal text” or blueprint for organising society. Rather, he says: “The Koran is continually trying to focus believers’ attention on that one, singular commandment, which is that they must submit to, and obey, God.”

What does the Koran say about gender roles?

“You would think the Koran would tell you what it means to be a man or a woman but it doesn’t do that. The Koran is, and I say this in a positive sense, a superbly ambiguous and dysfunctional text, and the reason the text has to be dysfunctional is because it has to relate to dysfunctional lives.

“The Koran is full of these men and woman who did not fit neat families. You have Jesus in the Koran, who is regarded as a prophet. Jesus had no father; we don’t know whether the Koranic Jesus was married.

“Then there was Joseph, who fell in love with his stepmother; we don’t know whether Joseph got married. The Prophet [Muhammad] was monogamous in marriage to one woman until she passed away, but then he had 10, 11, 12 wives. So which model of Islamic masculinity is the one that needs to be upheld?

“And if you look at the story of Adam and Eve, I’m not convinced it’s about traditional roles because it doesn’t actually say in the Koran that Adam was created to be the breadwinner and Eve the homemaker. The only commandment that was given to Adam and Eve was: Submit to me [God] and stay away from that tree.”

Why are so few Muslim men feminists?

“It’s quite simple. Why would a man who is at the centre of everything try to rock the boat? I remember when I was doing my PhD, people were saying, ‘Why are you looking at this?’ They were actually quite shocked.

“And because these Muslim men have tried very hard to set the boundaries of what is masculine and Islamic, you have a mass exodus towards secularism. For example, I have spoken to many LGBT Muslims and have asked, ‘Do you reconcile your sexuality with your faith?’ Many of them will say, ‘No, because we know this is a sin, we know it’s wrong, it’s not Islamic’.

“This begs the question, ‘Under whose authority have they been thrown out of the centre point, that very category of “Islamic”?’ Now more than ever this needs to be debated.

“A lot of the discourse within Muslim communities focuses on Islamophobia, and I say, ‘Okay, Islamophobia exists but if you only concentrate on that it stops you from critiquing’.”

Has studying this field weakened your faith?

“No. In a way my own faith has been strengthened by questioning and critique. I do believe that Muslims from the very beginning have thrived in doubt and the unknown. I would regard myself as someone who lives in the real world. I know there is a lot of subjugation and oppression of women globally in the name of Islam, but my project is hoping for a long-term impact. I want to help my students and readers to think, and I don’t regard myself as an activist.

“A lot of people come to me and say, ‘But Aman, you have to tell us Maududi’s model is not Islamic’, and I say, ‘I can’t do that, he has a right to access the text in exactly the same way as another Muslim, whose Islam you agree with, accesses the text’.

“That’s not often helpful in our current geopolitical climate because people often want to be told what to do. But I hope people will think through this and in turn helps us all to prosper.”

• Amanullah de Sondy will chair a discussion, Religion and Science: Collision or Confluence? led by Dr Whitney Bauman on Wednesday, April 6th at 5pm in the O'Rahilly Building G27 as part of UCC's Religion and Modernity lecture series